Amerika

Charlie Kirk got a ration of flak for saying that empathy is an illusion. Perhaps we can split some hairs to great learning: empathy describes a literal emotional state, but as humans use the term, “empathy” is bullshit.

The normal human mediates everything they do through an emotional filter connected to a social filter. This enables them to believe that everyone sees the world as they do, and therefore, that the world is an extension of their own mind. The individualist solipsist projects empathy onto others.

This is the opposite of the actual process, which is a type of perception where you feel the mental state of another and understand the reasons behind their motivations. This does not validate or justify those emotions as “objective,” only achieves a cause->cognition->effect linkage where it recognizes why that brain perceives what it does.

Most human behavior fits the form of codependency, where each person relies on the others as an external counterpoint to their own appetites and urges. In this way, the group keeps itself in check by beating its members down periodically as sacrifices or lifting others up as “golden children” who exemplify its values best.

Whenever peer pressure dominates, behavior takes on this form, and “empathy” is the passive response. Instead of making people see the reason in a certain course of action, make them feel emotional connections between the group, and this will pacify them.

Naturally these passive manipulations backfire over time when people realize that “empathy” means that the empathizer is merely projecting his own emotions onto others in an attempt to use guilt to control them. But for a short time, it conveys a power advantage to the person weeping about empathy.

Tags: charlie kirk, codependency, empathy, golden child, passive aggression